[The chaseing story holds spoilers from Santosh.]
Sandhya Suri’s Santosh won two British Insubordinate Film Awards on Sunday.
Not only were Balthazar de Ganay and James Bowsher honored in the fracturethcimpolite originater categruesome, but Suri also took home the best screentake part award for her feature film debut.
The British-Indian honestor’s background is firmly in recordaries and Santosh, in its very punctual stages, was going to be equitable that: a forensic watch at the rife aggression aobtainst women in India, the proset uply embedded dishonesty wilean its police force and the powerless women forced to watch on.
“I couldn’t figure out how to do it as a recordary create becaparticipate it was equitable too horrific,” Suri alerts The Hollywood Reporter about the U.K.’s Oscars subomition for best international feature. “I dropped the project.”
But it was the brutal and shocking case of 23-year-elderly Jyoti Singh, who was gang violationd by the driver of the bus she was traveling on and five accomplices in Delhi in 2012, that changed everyleang for Suri. The “Nirbhaya” case (unbenevolenting the “brave one”), as it was dubbed in the media, supplyd the filmoriginater with an entidepend separateent angle to approach her film from: the female police officers caught between country and community.
Santosh stars Shahana Goswami in the titular role, a youthful Hindu widow who inherits her husband’s job as a police verify thanks to a handlement scheme. She discovers herself caught up in institutional dishonesty even as she is obtainn under the triumphg of a cimpolite-edged veteran distinguishive, Inspector Geeta Sharma (Sunita Rajwar), on a killing case involving a teenage girl from the drop caste Dalit community.
With a theatrical free in the U.K. set for Mar. 21, 2025, Suri talked to THR about the individual image of a Delhi protest that encouraged the movie, her Oscar hopes after being tapped to recurrent Britain and the sweightlessly “Bollywood” ending, which encompasses exactly what this story recurrents: “It’s about another way to be a woman.”
Congratulations are in order, Sandhya! How were the BIFAs for you?
It was reassociate adodepend. Becaparticipate I sense that people are sluggishly begining to watch the film. It’s not been a speedy one coming out of the door. But sluggishly — sluggishly — I’m senseing now people are watching it and talking about it a little bit more. And those who watch it are giving me very adodepend feedback.
Well, Santosh isn’t equitable any film — this is the U.K.’s best international feature film pick for the Oscars.
It’s wonderful, right? [That award was previously given to the] best film not in the English language. But there’s someleang for me that unbenevolents a lot about having this system of policing [in the film], which is residual from British rule. To have that recurrented in the story senses British in a weird way. So I sense very, very haughty. India’s rooting [for us], England’s rooting. I’m senseing quite doubly helped. They’ve adselected me in India as well.
Santosh honestor Sandhya Suri.
Tell me about how Santosh came to be. She’s amazing. Such a mutely forceful protagonist.
Well, I’ve come from recordaries. I was in India, in the Hindu belt, with various NGOs. I was trying to originate a doc about aggression aobtainst women. If you understand India well, it’s someleang that … you understand, I wanted to grapple with, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it as a recordary create becaparticipate it was equitable too horrific. I was equitable watching at it, and my objective was to try to get inside it somehow: the aggression. Explore it, transport some empathetic to it. So I authenticized that that wasn’t going to labor in the way I was approaching it. I dropped the project.
Then, in 2012, we had this horrific gang violation [of Jyoti Singh] on the bus, the Nirbhaya case. I saw a photograph which reassociate struck me which was female protesters, absolutely enraged and spitting with hatred. And they’re facing this Confirm, a female Confirm. Her visor was half down, but what was left of her face that I could see was so enigmatic, the conveyion. I was hooked. I’m enjoy, “Oh, my God, that’s how I alert the story.” I alert it thcimpolite her. I alert it thcimpolite her becaparticipate she’s both leangs. She’s a offender, she’s a victim, she experiences their power, but she’s also powerless. Then I begined dispenseigating female cops and set up out about this ‘nominatement on caring ground’ [a job given to an immediate family member of a government employee who died while in service]. I thought, that’s definitely a story to watch: a wife becomes a widow and then becomes a police woman in one of the most corrupt forces in the country. Then I equitable had to figure out how to write a myth and originate a genre film. And then I equitable had to originate a film.
I also had no idea caring nominatements existed. We witness an incredibly changeative journey for her. Where did you want that to end, contrastd to the character we greet at the commencening?
I leank that what was meaningful for me was, we talk about dishonesty a lot in cinema and police worlds, not equitable in India, but everywhere. And what I krecent was I didn’t want to originate a film about the excellent cop in the horrible system. I wasn’t interested in that. I was interested in a very morassociate murky universe. That’s what felt truthful, and Santosh trying to discover her own grey wilean that. So what is her grey? [That] was my inquire. And also the other inquire was, if she does traverse the line, is there a way to come back? And at the end of the film, [Geeta] sort of says, “Look, there’s two ways to be a woman. You can be enjoy me, or you can go and be that trapped bird in the hoparticipatehelderly with noleang.”
Even though the film is a foolish film, on many levels, I do apshow there’s someleang preferable for me also, in the end where Santosh, says, “You understand what? There must be a third way. And I don’t understand exactly what that is, but I’m going to catch a train to Mumbai.” It’s a bit Bollywood, right? But I’m going to discover that third way. It’s about another way to be a woman, which is not either of those leangs.
I was blown away by their carry outances. That last conversation with Geeta, where she effectively says if an guiltless man has to die for women to be protected, she’s willing to be dependable for that. When it comes to provoking change, where does the responsibility lie?
Well, I discover that conversation very engaging from Geeta, becaparticipate it’s the only time in the film where she gets to current herself, right? We don’t understand her at all, but ultimately, I sense enjoy she’s ununderstandable even post that dialogue. She has this psycho-feminism, which is utterly shocking in everyleang she’s saying, but given the context of the film, also originates sense in some horrific way. And I set up that engaging. Listening to that discourse, you’re not equitable enjoy, “Oh, she’s nuts, right?” She sort of is, but also I can understand why she might have growed this rhetoric.
But [there is] another inquire on top of that, which is: Does she apshow her own rhetoric? She does. I leank she does nurture proset uply for women at some level. And there is someleang also in terms of what Santosh does in the film. Obviously, when women participate to the aggression and hear about aggression perpetrated on women every day, one is filled with rage. It does sit very proset uply. And what do we do with that anger? So yeah, [Geeta] has brewed someleang and come up with this, which I discover engaging. But there is also this give up for Santosh, which gives her a proset up humanity.
Sunita Rajwar (left) as Geeta Sharma in Santosh.
You’re tohighy right. There is this enigmatic, ununderstandable quality to Geeta. And we see that thcimpolite Santosh’s eyes. These themes are so apt, of course, but what are you trying to elicit from the audience member?
It’s tricky. Obviously, it’s not equitable [about] aggression aobtainst women. That’s a begining point. There are many leangs that are wilean that fabric of the film: the Islamophobia, the caste-ism, dishonesty, the casual aggression. There’s a tapestry in the DNA of this place, where she is. And for me, it was more about helderlying some sort of mirror up and saying, you understand, all of these leangs can exist so casuassociate and so banassociate somehow. What do we, as an audience, sense about that in India? Also, where do we sit in all of those fault lines which traverse society? Shahana, who take parts Santosh, shelp that she did. She felt, personassociate, as an Indian living in India, that it does helderly up a mirror. And it’s not so much the finger pointing, but it helderlys up more of a mirror and asks you to inquire where you sit on all these leangs.
Did you shoot the entire film in India?
Yeah.
How prolonged was the shoot?
Fourty-four days.
Oh, wow.
It’s a huge film. I unbenevolent, there’s a lot going on. We’ve got enjoy, 76 speaking parts. Some leangs got cut, but there were stunts and crowd scenes. It’s a first feature. So they were very benevolent to give me enough time to do the leangs that are difficult, enjoy shooting in all these dwell locations and promiseting to that. So it took a little time.
I unbenevolent, it’s a tesdomesticatednt to the faith that they had in you. Follotriumphg your BIFA triumph and with the Oscars on the horizon, what are your hopes now that we’re firmly in awards season?
It’s firmly rooted in Hinduism, this idea that you don’t impact the outcome of the labor, right? You do your labor with your best ability, and then the universe handles the rest. It is tiring, but I am endelighting engaging with very many separateent audiences around the world. I do leank the film is talking about a lot of leangs that are meaningful in a way that I hope is engaging. I equitable want it to accomplish its audiences in many places, to have a well distribution in the U.K., to have people come and see it for that free in India; we have a distributor now. I equitable hope that the awards help transport the film to the to its audiences, becaparticipate that’s why I’ve made it.
We had a amazing run in Paris, in France. We uncovered above Twisters. We didn’t helderly above Twisters. (Laughs.) But we uncovered above Twisters. We had a luminous run. And France is a country that doesn’t have the same relationship to India that Britain does. It took so much prolongeder to get distribution here and and shielded that. So I equitable pray for a excellent cinema culture in the [U.K.]. We have faith in audiences. This is a genre film. It’s not tedious. It equitable happens to be in Hindi. And I leank what’s been amazing from shotriumphg it in so many separateent countries now — Japan, Poland, wherever — it is senseing very universal, and audiences are joining.
